FRANCISCO VICENTE AGUILERA - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 218116

FRANCISCO VICENTE AGUILERA
The Cuban Revolutionary pens a letter regarding his experience living in a
megapolis and his struggling with the English language.
Autograph Letter Signed:"F.V. Aguilera", in iron gall ink.
7x4½. Fully Translated in English: "The loneliness that embraces me in
the middle of 3 400 000 souls is scary because I can't communicate with anybody.
However, I am trying to learn from the situation so I have enrolled with a
teacher but I can't understand him and he can't understand me during the two
hour classes, so I have frightening experiences with English. Good bye my
friend, I wish you good health, constancy and success, your friend who loves you
most." Francisco Vicente Aguilera (1821-1877) was a Cuban lawyer
patriot who inherited a fortune from his father, and in 1867 the richest
landowner in eastern Cuba, owning livestock, sugar refineries, extensive
properties and slaves. Although he never bought any slave, he used the
ones that he had inherited from his father but they were not enough of them to
plant and harvest the sugarcane and work the farms, so Aguilera had to hire many
free workers. He was Mayor of Bayamo, freemason and head of the Masonic lodge
in Bayamo. Francisco Vicente Aguilera also traveled to several countries
such as England, The United States of America, France and Italy. While
traveling, he met governments with Chiefs of State who were nor
monarchs, leading him to embrace the progressive ideas to which he was
exposed. Aguilera turned into an idealist who was always trying to improve the
conditions of his countrymen and at the age of 30 he began to conspire against
Spanish colonial rule and joined a movement started by proto-independencepatriot Joaquin Agüero in Camagüey, Cuba. Since then, in alliance with
other wealthy landowners of the region, he openly spoke out against colonial
Spanish rule. He was the leader of an anti-Spanish outbreak in Bayamo in
1867 and was elected as leader of a General Committee designated to
carry out plans for the insurrectionists. The other two members of this
committee were Francisco Maceo and Pedro "Perucho" Figueredo,
lather author of the Cuban National Anthem. Aguilera had an active
participation in the creation of conspiratorial groups in different
regions of Cuba, including the planning of preliminary reunions that culminated
in the declaration of independence on October 10, 1868 at Yara, led by
planter and lawyer Carlos Manuel de Cespedes. Aguilera did not hesitate
to use his money in the revolution, and at one of the conspiracy meetings he
famously announced that he was willing and ready to sell all his private
property and market value to raise funds for arming the new Cuban Army of
Independence. On the next day, he published an ad on Bayamo's main newspaper
offering all his properties, livestock and buildings, which included 35,000 head
of cattle and 4,000 horses, for sale. Aguilera had many positions in the
Cuban Army, including "Major General", "Minister of War",
"Vice President of the Republic" and "Commander-in-Chief of the
Eastern District". When commanding the army, he was distinguished for
courage and ability, taking part in person in many engagements and skirmishes.
Upon the outbreak of war in 1868, Aguilera decided to free all 500 of his
slaves, an illegal action at that time under the Spanish law, and also joined
ranks with a lot of them to retake the city of Bayamo from the Spanish. Many of
his former slaves became soldiers and officers in the War of
Independence, but it is uncertain whether or not his onetime slaves decided
to enroll in the military or if their freedom was contingent upon Cuba
winning the war. In 1871 Aguilera went to New York City in order to
raise funds for the war effort and died in that city in 1877. The freed Cuban
Republic honored him by printing his image on the Cuban $100 peso
bill that circulated prior to the 1959 communist revolution. Multiple
mailing folds. Tape residue on verso. Pencil note (unknown hand) on verso.
Otherwise, fine condition.

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